mardi 30 décembre 2014

BLACKPOOL (mini tv series) (2004)


Ripley Holden (David Morrissey) is a small-time entrepreneur desperate to make it big with his new state-of-the-art amusement arcade. 

The opening extravaganza is overshadowed by the find of a dead body on the premises. 

DI Carlisle (David Tennant) is called in and quickly finds he has more on his mind than murder, when he falls in love with Ripley's long-suffering wife, Natalie (Sarah Parish).

Part musical (from time to time the actors burst into song & are transported into fantasy sequences which work quite well as an integral part of the plot), part thriller, part drama, Blackpool brings the glitz of Vegas to the English seaside town in a gripping, dark and witty whodunnit. 

The cast is brilliant, the performances are uniformly good. And Blackpool itself is well used as the backdrop and well known places/landmarks appear in most scenes. 


An enjoyable serial (the soundtrack's pretty good too). 


BLACKPOOL (2004)

lundi 29 décembre 2014

THE INTERVIEW (2014) - SETH ROGEN & EVAN GOLDBERG



Dave Skylark (James Franco), anime le talk-show "Skylark Tonight", au cours duquel il interviewe des célébrités sur des sujets intimes. 

Alors que Dave et son équipe fêtent leur 1000e épisode, ils découvrent que le dirigeant nord-coréen Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) est un fan de leur émission, ce qui incite le producteur du spectacle Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) à lui proposer une interview. Cependant l'agent de la CIA Lacey (Lizzy Caplan) propose à Dave et Aaron d'assassiner Kim pour faciliter un coup d'État. 

Ces derniers acceptent à contrecœur. Arrivés en Corée du Nord, ils s'apercevront que tout ne se passera pas aussi bien que prévu.


J'avais regardé la bande annonce bien avant tout le buzz sur Sony car je suis super fan de Lizzy Caplan :-)  

Je m'attendais à un film beaucoup plus réussi, beaucoup plus cynique et surtout beaucoup plus drôle (la majorité des blagues {un peu stupides} tombe à plat ...). 

Un beau gachis car le sujet s'annonçait (dans une certaine mesure) prometteur !

THE INTERVIEW, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

dimanche 21 décembre 2014

FAIS PAS CI, FAIS PAS ÇA



Fais Pas çi Fais Pas ça est la seule série télé française que je regarde avec très grand plaisir ! Certes, ça reste un peu franchouillard mais beaucoup moins que le feuilleton habituel du genre. Il y a bien plus de recherche, beaucoup d'humour. 

On voit grandir et évoluer 2 familles très différentes l'une de l'autre, on les voit s'entendre, se disputer et se réconcilier et pourtant on ne se lasse pas de les retrouver. 

 Les personnages sont un brin caricaturaux mais impeccables. Bonne série, pleine de fraicheur, des comédiens naturels et crédibles, des situations réelles de la vie de tous les jours, qui se transforment parfois en péripéties incroyables.


FAIS PAS CI, FAIS PAS çA

samedi 20 décembre 2014

SUCKER - CHARLI XCX (2014)



Unless you’ve been in hibernation for the past year, you will surely have come across Charli XCX, the Brit pop bombshell is responsible for various chart hits including Icona Pop’s I Love It and Iggy Azalea’s colossal chart-topping Fancy. 

Following her collaborative success, her following solo single Boom Clap, showed that Charli XCX was much more than a one, or at least two, hit wonder.

I was really looking forward to listening to this album and well I was not disappointed at all ! 

It is a party record (no ballads at all , crazy, right ?) mixing perfectly 90's pop and punk  !

 All the tunes are wildly fun and unbelievably catchy :-) 





mardi 16 décembre 2014

FREAKS AND GEEKS (1999)


A television show about two unique groups of teenagers dealing with life in high school during the 80's.

Freaks and Geeks makes the difference right from the opening credits (Bad Reputation by Joan Jett sets the tone) and the first scene of the pilot. Here, we're not talking about high school's romance and drama, but we're talking about the others, those who are rejected because they are different (and the casting is really great !). 

Freaks & Geeks managed to be both very rooted in the 80's (especially with the look of the characters and the soundtrack that includes The Who, Grateful Dead etc) and universal. It never falls into clichés, the teens reflect on themselves, they have their teen crisis but never in excess.

 F & G is realistic, right, bittersweet, funny, touching and deep. 

At the beginning, the characters are fairly annoying but they soon become more and more endearing. Freaks and Geeks is surely one of the best series on youth. I only have one regret: one season is really too short !!! 

Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks

FREAKS AND GEEKS, 1999


(You can see Shia Laboeuf, Rashida Jones, Lizzy Caplan, Ben Stiller, Jason Schwartzman in several episodes)

THRU ME AGAIN - LA HELL GANG (2014)







On Thru Me Again, La Hell Gang trade the garage rock of their forgettable debut album (I still have to check up on that) Just What Is Real for psychedelic sounds (very very very similar to my dear Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) that straddle the line between stoner rock and shoegaze.

 These hazy, slow-burning songs shimmer like mirages, and even the relatively short tracks seem to bend time and space.

 Solid record ! 


dimanche 14 décembre 2014

L'ENFER - DANTE ALIGHIERI



Cela faisait longtemps que je n'avais pas lu un livre en français et ça m'a fait du bien, c'était très reposant ! 

Je voulais lire L'Enfer depuis la diffusion du 1er épisode de la saison 6 de Mad Men !



Dans l'ensemble, j'ai plutôt apprécié cette première partie (La Divine Comédie contient 3 tomes) mais pour être honnête, je ne suis pas sûre de lire Le Purgatoire et Le Paradis.

 L'Enfer est extrêmement bien écrit, spirituel et théologique (il faut bien sûr contextualiser le livre pour en comprendre tous les tenants et aboutissants) mais la structure très répétitive (on suit l'avancée de Virgile et Dante dans les entrailles de l'enfer où l'on navigue un peu de suppliciés en suppliciés [regroupés et châtiés selon les péchés qu'ils ont commis sur terre] ( figures mythiques de l'Antiquité ou figures historiques, poètes et philosophes, ou personnalités locales et contemporaines) m'a un peu refroidie, je l'avoue ... 


L'ENFER, DANTE ALIGHIERI

samedi 13 décembre 2014

PITCH PERFECT - JASON MOORE (2012)





Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition.



The plot won't surprise (it is conventional and formulaic) but it's fun, funny and freaky in equal measure and it totally works as a solid predictable musical comedy. Pretty enjoyable ! Anna Kendrick's performance is good and the musical numbers are quite cool and catchy [there's even a mash up with Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds, (Breakfast Club is the favorite movie of one of the characters ;-) yeah I had to place it haha ^^)]









PITCH PERFECT, JASON MOORE (2012)

lundi 1 décembre 2014

GOD HELP THE GIRL - STUART MORDOCH (2014)


The film, set in Glasgow, follows Eve (Emily Browning), an effortlessly stylish and talented aspiring musician who escapes a psychiatric hospital in the hopes of making it big in music. When she crosses paths with hopelessly pretentious yet endearingly awkward aspiring songwriter James (Olly Alexander), they hit it off straight away. He introduces her to his guitar student Cassie (Hannah Murray), and the three become friends and form a band.


God Help The Girl is a sweet, quirky and melancholic movie I really enjoyed ! It reminded be a bit of the French New Wave and Wes Anderson. 

 It is true the movie pretty much consists of largely uneventful yet incredibly cinematic adventures in Glasgow of the main characters (which are uncomfortable but likeable) trying to define themselves as a band. With a bit of an unrequited love thing thrown in the mix, the plot is indeed very light (so yeah narratively speaking it could be way better). 

BUT The treatment of mental health issues is sensitive and realistic, the music, the cinematography, the cast and the 60's inspired costumes (especially those worn by Emily Browning) are wonderful :-) 




GOD HELP THE GIRL, STUART MORDOCH (2014)

Rechercher dans ce blog